Rage: You're Subdue-ing it right.

Posted on Mon Mar 24, 2014 @ 8:42pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

1,357 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: A Whole New World, Part 2 - Durbatuluk
Location: Deck 5 near VIP quarters

Nicole pried the panel back off the jefferies tube junction hatch and leaped inside, crawling fast down the junction to the downshaft. "We'll head towards their quarters and head them off," she said, looking back at Yarin as she swung her legs over the side. "How fast can those four arms get down a ladder?"

"Fast enough" Yarin said as he went over the edge and down the ladder head first, barely touching the rungs.

"Good," Nicole said, taking a leap over the side, falling past him. As she approached the correct deck, she reached out and grabbed the ladder, breaking her fall and wrenching her shoulder. She hissed briefly, but held on with her other hand as her bad arm popped back into is socket. She gave it an experimental rotation then, nodding to herself, opened the access hatch to the VIP deck and dropped in, hearing Yarin right behind her.

Yarin swung himself through the gap in the ladder and across the connection tube, flipped up passed the doctor and landed in a crouch on the deck.

Nicole's temples were throbbing again but she ignored it, letting it fuel her already built annoyance at their guests. "Their quarters are this way," she said, nodding to the right.

Yarin made his way to a darkened corner of the corridor his skin coloration changing to match the surrounding blackness.

Nicole’s visual acuity being what it was, she was almost sure she could make out his outline, but had to look twice. “I’ll take point,” she said, starting down the corridor. They made it around two curves of the ship before she stopped. “I hear something,” she whispered.

Yarin made his way past the Doctor to a dark corner on the far side of the corridor. He peeked his head past the curve and there he saw, not too far off, five Raeru walking down the corridor, weapons in their hands.

“How many?” Nicole hissed.

Yarin raised up one hand out of the shadows so it was clearly visible and lowered his thumb, leaving the other five fingers up.

Nicole nodded and pressed herself against the bulkhead, bag in one hand, baton in the other. They were both hidden well enough for the moment, but in a few short seconds they’d be face to face with five, most likely armed, enemies. She knelt down quickly and opened her bag, rummaging inside for a moment before extracting a golf-ball-sized object. She took a step backward, leaned back and swung her arm around, pitching softball style and sending the sphere down the corridor where it ricocheted past their adversaries.

The corridor suddenly lit up with weapons fire as the Raeru turned and fired at the noise bouncing around their stretch of corridor. When the weapons fire turned away from them, Nicole signaled and ran ahead.

The first one turned towards her and she backhanded him with her baton, the force of the blow enough to snap his head sideways while breaking his jaw. As he fell, another turned around and her arm reversed course, bringing her weapon back against the would-be invader’s nose, shattering it and spraying blood in her general direction.

She watched a few drops land on the back of her hand, just below her thumb, and she automatically brought it up to her mouth, licking her hand clean. Her eyes flashed red and she growled hungrily, staring at him. He looked back at her, blood pouring down his face and saw the expression on her face and took off, Nicole hot on his heels.

Yarin hid in the shadows waiting for the moment to strike, the blood pumping in his ears, muffling all other sounds around him. He unsheathed his tovreets, the blades itching to taste alien blood, his mind open to new 'creative' ways to retrieve information.

As Nicole ran, and the others realized something had happened, Yarin leaped forward, swinging all four arms with wild abandon, a crazed look in his six dark eyes and a horrible rictus grin appeared on his face, the skin cracking slightly at the unnatural muscle movement. He knocked over all three of them, slashing at the closest two.

The floor was soon slick with alien blood as he lifted two of them up and bashed their heads together, knocking them unconscious, the impact making a satisfying thunk. He spotted the third attempting to run, threw his blades and pinned him to the wall. It was then that Yarin decided to have a little fun with his prize. He bounded over to the squirming alien grabbed his head and dove in deep.

He could feel his victim shake in his hands as he began leafing through the man’s thoughts, turning them over like the pages of a book. Dirty secrets, unspoken ambitions, childhood fears, everything laid out for him to peruse. Sometimes the ink smudged a bit as his victim struggled to keep his thoughts private, but Yarin’s mind was like a finely-tuned lens now, and he could read every word in the man’s head.

With each page, the soldier fought harder, and Yarin knew he was getting close to something big. Finally, he shoved aside any last traces of resistance and flipped to the page he wanted: a plan of attack for the ship, and their instrument of destruction. The image of a box flooded both their minds, a box of rage. It would cut through the minds of those on the ship and stir up their rage, rendering them into useless brawlers. Unfortunately for this soldier, it worked. Yarin felt it coursing through him like a fire, and as he read each page of his victim’s mind, the fire lit those pages asunder, turning the soldier’s brains to molten jelly. Yarin finished his grisly task and let the corpse drop to the floor, gripping his tovreets tighter and heading for the rest of the Raeru at their quarters, ready for his next ‘read’.

While Yarin read, Nicole ran. Her baton had been returned to her bag, but she’d had to hammer-throw it to knock the Raeru’s weapon out of his hands during the chase. As much as she was blinded by rage, her prey was becoming blinded by fear; he was running pell-mell now, trying to find an open door to duck through and escape the snarling animal behind him.

He finally came to a door that would open for him and found himself rushing headlong into a cargo bay. He looked back over his shoulder to find her following him in and ended up running straight into a solid stack of containers, rebounding and landing on the floor.

Nicole had been told several times as a child not to play with her food. Unfortunately, it was one of several rules of good manners she never caught on with. As her prey turned over on his back and tried to crawl away, her boot lashed out, connecting with, and subsequently breaking his knee.

She delighted as he howled in pain and kicked again, breaking his opposite leg and eliciting another howl. She moved in slowly, her eyes red, her hair curled and her breathing heavy and deep. She could smell his fear and to her rage-soaked brain it was delicious.

“Tell me,” she said, “was this your plan? To annoy us and then attack?”

“No,” he grunted through the pain. “Supposed to be…incapacitated. Our device should have…made you disorganized…blind with rage…please…I’m sorry…”

“Oh, don’t be sorry. I have good news for you,” Nicole said happily, dropping close to him. Her blood-red eyes bored into his and her curled hair fell like a curtain around them. She smiled, showing her teeth and despite the cheer on her face, her prey visibly shook beneath her.

“It worked,” she said, driving forward with a snarl.

His screams didn’t last long and she was once again on her way to the VIP quarters, ready to ‘subdue’ another.


Nicole Anderson
CMO
USS Victory

Yarin
Lt. Jg
USS Victory

 

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